This week I wanted to share a tool with you that I have been using to develop graphics for multiple aspects of my work and am looking forward to including in my units.

A year or so ago I was introduced to an amazing online design tool, Canva.

Canva is a free online based program that produces a large range of graphics including posters, flyers, brochures, infographics etc. Canva is also available as an IPAD app and therefore can be used in multi device classes.

While I am yet to use Canva with my classes, I now have over 20 different graphics that I have personally designed for my use. All images in today’s post have been made using Canva!

I am looking forward to utilising this program to create explanatory graphics in my math class.

Today’s post features 5 suggestions for using graphic design in your class and a summary of why Canva is a great choice for your class.

5 Places you can use graphic design in your classes

1. Summarise information

• Posters and brochures can be a great way to teach students to construct concise summaries.
• Summarising information using graphics can also reinforce the benefits of visual association with topics.

2. Information sharing and group research

• Posters can be an easy way to encourage student to present information about a new topic that they have researched.
• Try giving different groups a topic that you need to cover and have them construct an information poster or infographic to share with the class. These can then become the class notes.

3. Planning your writing tasks or assignments

• Why not use a poster or infographic (or custom template) to plan out what you need to do in a writing task. Not only is it informative but could make a fun first activity when planning any writing piece.
• This same idea could also be applied to planning the steps to completing a large assignment.
• You could also use a poster to create a brainstorm to refer back to. (Another free mindmapping tool bubbl.)

4. Assessment

• Use graphics to summarise a report
• Create an infographic
• Create a poster

5. Get students to design resources for your class including headers for your online course. 

Why you should use Canva compared to other programs: 

1. There are thousands of templates to choose from. Suitable for almost any need. 
2. Existing templates can be modified to suit the project that you are working on. 
3. The program is extremely intuitive. 
4. The program includes free images, icons, shapes, illustrations and charts so you don’t have to worry about copyright. 
5. You can upload your own images if the free ones don’t suit. 
6. All images are stored online. (No, “I lost the file”)
7. Canva provides tutorials and lesson plans that you can use with your class. 
8. You can create a class so that you can share images. 
9. There are 3 formats that you can download a design. JPG, PNG and PDF. 
10. It’s just so easy…...

Points to consider when choosing Canva

1. Students must have a login. If you are a google school they can use their google login. For other students they can signup with email however you may need parental permission to have students do this. 
2. Nothing else its great……

Examples of designs by Educatingthedigitallearner created using Canva

For a quick “how to” check out fellow blogger Joel’s Tech Tip Tuesday post on Canva.

What programs do you use for easy graphic creation? Please share in the comments below or on our facebook page.